Athletes play down prospect of a Scottish Olympic team

Sprinter Allan Wells, who won the 100m in Moscow in 1980, said Scotland would suffer without the coaches, facilities and resources provided by Team GB.

He said a lot of investment and work would be needed over a considerable period if a Scottish team were ever going to be able to cope on their own at the Olympics.

And Craig MacLean, a former team-mate of Hoy's, said he thought creating a Scottish-only team would be "nonsense" and a "step backward".

Their comments come as a major blow to the Nationalists who want to see Scotland fielding its own Olympic team,

a view echoed by Sir Sean Connery, who said at an event at the Book Festival yesterday that he shared that aim.

On Sunday, Hoy blasted plans for Scotland to go it alone as "ridiculous", saying he would not have won three gold medals had he not been part of a British team.

The cyclist, Scotland's most successful Olympian, returned to Britain yesterday and reiterated his support for Team GB.

He said he was "a proud Scot and a very proud Brit as well", stressing the two identities were not mutually exclusive.

The success of Scots athletes in Beijing at a time when there is a Nationalist government in Edinburgh has forced the issue of Olympic representation to the top of the political and sporting agendas.

Alex Salmond, the First Minister, has made clear he would like to see a Scottish team at the Olympics, because he feels that would give more Scots the chance to compete at the highest level.

This view was reinforced by Sir Sean, who said:

"Scotland should always be a stand- alone nation at whatever, I believe."

That view is not shared by the nation's top Olympians, however.

Wells told The Scotsman: "We need to be part of the British team at the moment, because that is where all the coaches are, the facilities and the money.

"We would have to be an independent country for the International Olympic Committee to acknowledge us as a nation.

"If Scotland was to become independent, and we were to have our own Olympic team, then we would need those facilities in place in order to compete. I believe an investigation has to be started now, and money put aside now, to prepare for that eventuality.

"But there is something else as well I still have a problem with. A lot of our medals were won in team events. We are strong in those team events because we compete as a British team.

"If we go independent as a nation in the Olympics, then that part will be lost."

MacLean, who competed at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics, said: "I think the idea (of a Scottish Olympic team] is nonsense, to be honest. I don't think it would be a good idea.

"That would be a step backwards. While we might come back with one or two medals, it is far better to be part of something bigger, like Team GB."

Speaking at a press conference near Heathrow Airport after the British team arrived back from China, Hoy said: "I've been very proud to represent Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, and that is something I will always treasure and hopefully (I'll] compete again in future years."

But today, we are here to celebrate the British team. Scotland is part of Britain – they are not mutually exclusive."

He went on: "I am a proud Scot and a very proud Brit as well. In terms of Scotland becoming an Olympic nation by itself, I think there needs to be a lot more investment up there in terms of facilities, but today is about the British team really, and we are here to celebrate that."

The SNP's political opponents also intervened to criticise the Scottish Government over the Olympic issue.

Gavin Brown, for the Tories, said: "Team GB has had a remarkable Games and made us extremely proud. As an integral part of Team GB, Scottish athletes made an enormous contribution to the medal haul, and once again we punched above our weight.

"Now is the time for us to congratulate them all, but, instead, Alex Salmond is abusing the successful performances of Scotland's athletes to push his own separatist agenda. He should listen carefully to what the athletes themselves are saying. They, like the vast majority of Scots, are proud to be both Scottish and British."

Andy Kerr, the Labour leadership hopeful, said: "The SNP are so narrow-minded they cannot celebrate the success of Scots in the GB team. They can't cope with the fact that they are proud Scots and proud Brits.

"We must protect our athletes by ending this nonsense of a separate Scottish team for the Olympics. Let us celebrate the GB Olympic team and the Scottish Commonwealth team."

A spokesman for Mr Salmond claimed Hoy had not actually spoken against a Scottish team in the future, just against one now because of the lack of facilities.

He said: "We are putting in the investment in new facilities, including a new national velodrome in Glasgow, which will raise our ambition as a country and allow athletes to prepare properly."

Hoy also turned his fire on the City of Edinburgh Council's plans to demolish the velodrome at Meadowbank, leaving Scotland without a proper cycling facility until one is built in Glasgow in time for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

He said: "The bottom line is that I wouldn't be sitting here with three gold medals, or any gold medals, around my neck if there hadn't been a facility in Edinburgh when I was 13, 14 years of age.

"Obviously, there is a new track being built for the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, but to demolish a track in Edinburgh means there is a whole crop of young riders who are never going to get the chance to try out the sport.

"It's very short-sighted, I think, but hopefully there can be some pressure put on them (the council] as a result of the success of the cycling team and the Olympic team as a whole."

Millions watch Beijing bow out and London raise 2012 curtain

MILLIONS of viewers tuned in to watch Beijing's handover to London, the BBC said yesterday.

The closing ceremony of the Olympics was seen by 6.8 million people on Sunday afternoon, followed by five million tuning into the 2012 party outside Buckingham Palace in London.

A BBC spokesman described it as a "substantial amount" of viewers for a Sunday afternoon.

Formally ending the Olympics, China put on a show of flying drummers, guns shooting confetti into the stands and gymnasts bouncing on stilts.

Footballer David Beckham, pop singer Leona Lewis and rock star Jimmy Page led London's eight-minute slot in the proceedings.

After the national anthem, sung by the National Youth Theatre, and the official handover, London's chance to impress the world began. Where Beijing relied on vast numbers of participants, London used fame and popular culture.

It started with a red double-decker bus driving around the track, pursued by gold medal-winning cyclists Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Jamie Staff, and being surrounded by dancers when it halted.

Tayyiba Dudhwala, a ten-year-old girl from east London, chosen in a Blue Peter competition, came out of the bus to receive a football from another girl, Erika Tham.

Lewis emerged from the roof on a rising column dressed in gold and singing an R'n'B aria. As the music reached a crescendo, Page came out on a rising stage with a guitar.

After a short pause, the unmistakable first riffs of Whole Lotta Love blasted out, and Lewis began singing.